Yuliya V. Kuznetsova, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Center for High Technology Materials
The University of New Mexico
Armonica Technologies LLC (STC start-up)
Dr. Kuznetsova has disclosed eight inventions to STC, received five UNM-affiliated issued U. S. patents, has six pending patent applications, and an option to license agreement with start-up Armonica Technologies LLC for her nanopore sequencing technology.
Imaging interferometric microscopy is a synthetic aperture approach which uses a low numerical aperture microscope. The unique aspect of this system is the collection of multiple partial images over different frequency regions through off-axis illumination and interferometric optics. The partial images are then assembled to form a composite image covering the total frequency space up to the transmission medium bandpass frequency. The final composite image has improved resolution by roughly a factor of two when compared with high numerical aperture imaging approaches.
Dr. Kuznetsova’s interferometric microscopy technologies have provided a leap in resolution using off-axis illumination and interferometric optics that increase resolution over traditional microscopy, making it more adaptable than current technology for semiconductor manufacturing and microscopy of biological subjects.
Complete genome sequencing must be able to identify all complex genome variants. While the cost of sequencing has decreased and the number of available ultra-high-throughput sequencing technologies has increased, the technology is still unable to completely sequence a human genome. There remain numerous regions of the human genome that are still not sequenced.
Dr. Kuznetsova’s nanopore sequencing technology addresses this problem by providing a method and apparatus for long read, label free, optical nanopore DNA sequencing. This is a novel, third-generation DNA sequencing technology based on the integration of nanochannels to deliver single DNA molecules with widely spaced “tortuous” nanopores that slow DNA translocation sufficiently to provide massively parallel, single-base resolution using optical techniques. At the surface of the nanoparticle array, strongly localized electromagnetic fields in engineered plasmonic structures allow for single-base resolution using Surface Enhanced Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (SECARS).
Dr. Kuznetsova’s research focuses on investigating the possibilities of improving the resolution of interferometric microscopes with different off-axis illumination configurations and on developing and fabricating nanochannel structures using interferometric lithography for the study of DNA behavior in nanochannels.
ISSUED U. S. PATENTS (UNM-AFFILIATED)
7,978,403, Imaging Interferometric Microscopy, issued July 12, 2011
8,115,992, Structural Illumination and Evanescent Coupling for the Extension of Imaging Interferometric Microscopy, issued February 14, 2012
8,203,782, Imaging Interferometric Microscopy, issued June 19, 2012
8,526,105, Structural Illumination and Evanescent Coupling for the Extension of Imaging Interferometric Microscopy, issued September 3, 2013
9,156,004, Fabrication of Enclosed Nanochannels Using Silica Nanopaticles, issued October 13, 2015
PENDING PATENT APPLICATIONS
Structural Illumination and Evanescent Coupling for the Extension of Imaging Interferometric Microscopy
Structural Illumination and Evanescent Coupling for the Extension of Imaging Interferometric Microscopy
Innovative Nanopore Sequencing Technology
Innovative Nanopore Sequencing Technology Including a Self-Assembled Porous Membrane
Efficient Collection of Separated Biomolecular Portions from Gel Samples
Fabrication of Enclosed Nanochannels Using Silica Nanoparticles